October... and November.

Where did these 2 months go?  I can't believe we are just a bit over a month away from 2014...  

I am starting to realize that I have ups and downs in my productivity...  During this year I have been in and out of love with many ideas.  Sometimes I thought that I had lost my knitting mojo, as we like to call it... but when it stroke back, I would start several projects at the same time.  Of course, this translates in a lot of patterns published at the same time!  And then... a period of nothing.  

I wish I could have a more steady creative rhythm... I am working on that, but still haven't quite made it.

October was a beautiful month for us.  We hosted some friends from Finland for a couple of weeks, and we dedicated the month to getting the house ready and spending time with them... I think I only knit a few couple of rows during that time, but it was so worth it!  We got to learn a lot about Nordic traditions and we even got to experience our wonderful Buenos Aires as tourists...

Also, I was gifted the most beautiful Finnish yarn, which I am saving for some special project...

I was being very active on social networks (you can find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter), and October is a bit blank there... Getting back to my usual work routine was a bit hard also after all those vacation days...

But I am back and full of energy to start some new projects again!

I did publish some beautiful patterns in this period.  Things I had been working on in the previous months, and which I am really in love with.

I released Bello in October.

 

When I designed Bello, I was looking for a sweater I could wear all the time, because I really adored the yarn I used for it.  I wanted something I could wear with jeans and a pair of boots…
I do love cardigans, but sometimes it is easier for me to throw on a pullover and not worry about what I am wearing underneath. So the decision was easy.
Bello is worked from the top down, in the round. It has an easy to wear shape, with flattering rib and cable details that keep the knitting interesting.

 

The design was named after the yarn I used, The Plucky Knitter Bello, and the colorway is Good 'Ole Pip, a mix between lilac and gray... really gorgeous.

These yarn is hard to get your hands on (I know it's hard for me to buy The Plucky Knitter yarns), but it can be replaced by any fingering weight yarn!  You can check out the project gallery to see what other yarns people used for this...

In early November I released another pattern that I loved: my Upper East Side hat.

 

As you can read in the pattern description, this past April I visited for the first time the amazing city of New York.  It was a total love affair with it... The buildings, the people, the style all around, the lights, the life!  Oh, New York, even coming from a big city like mine, you cannot stop admiring such an astonishing mass of wonderfulness...

And when I cam back home, I got hooked watching Gossip Girl.  I know, most people don't understand how I could love that series so much!  I just can't explain it.  It was so easy to watch, everything they showed was beautiful, and ridiculously perfect... For some reason it made my knitting much faster while watching!

So, when this hat was made, I couldn't think of a better name for it :)

So this is just a simple hat pattern, worked from the rib up, with lots lots of texture.  You will need just 1 skein of DK weight yarn, I made mine using Madelinetosh DK in colorway Onyx (a dark almost black gray).

And now I've been working on 2 projects that have me enamoured with their romanticness (is that a word? I think so?)...

I have been working on a small Baby Kimono pattern.  This one is being made for my soon to be born nephew...  Remember I was hopeful my sister was going to have a little girl?  Well, I've been blessed with another nephew, so my older projects were not good for him... hahahah
I am using Malabrigo Rios in the creamiest natural color...  This project just makes me happy.

And I have also been working in a sweater design I call "Old Romance"...  I can't say much about this one yet, other than it has involved a lot of knitting, and ripping, and knitting and ripping again!
But it finally looks like it has a lovely sweater shape...  And I can't wait to finish it!
i am using Northbound Knitting yarns for the first time.  These yarns come from a lovely dyer in Canada (Lisa312 on Ravelry), who creates the most exquisite, rock star shades.

So... Good things coming ahead... And a new pattern release tomorrow!

What are you up to?
~Joji